Riding BuddiesI’ve been thinking about this ride for weeks. Basically I wanted an enjoyable dirt ride which would let me get from Mount Glorious, up in the D’Aguilar Ranges down to Dayboro, and back home. A friend of mine (Russel) suggested a route, so I fed it into the GPS, talked Simon into coming with me, and set out on another hare-brained adventure.
The first part of our trip was from home to Samford, up the Goat Track, then to Mount Glorious, and Wivenhoe Outlook. That first stage was just over 50km.
The view from Westridge Outlook on the first part of the ride.
Then we hit the dirt and headed down the hill towards Lacey’s Creek and Dayboro. The track undulates for 5 or 6 km and has some amazing views..
Then the track suddenly drops 500m in elevation over 5km. That’s the exciting bit 🙂 The only problem was that by the time I’d got to the bottom, my brakes were so hot they were smoking.
Simon demonstrates the number one rule about climbing hills. It doesn’t matter how steep or tough they are – don’t give up!
I’d really like to do this again sometime. All up we rode 102km. Total ascent for the ride was 2,100m, and I burned 6,300kcal which is the equivalent of 13 Big Macs.
Total distance: 104.3 km Total climbing: 2253 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 09:50:56
I thought I’d explore some quiet roads out the back of Dayboro this afternoon. It was a good excuse to get a few miles on the bike before I go for a huge ride with Simon tomorrow (weather permitting).
Rush Creek is one of those districts that figured large in the history of the Pine Rivers area. It was logged in the mid 19th century. William Henry Day (after whom Dayboro is named) planted one of the first sugar cane farms in South East Queensland using Kanak labour.
Today, much of what was the Rush Creek district has been flooded by the North Pine Dam…
Rush Creek Road was closed off in the 1970’s when the North Pine Dam was built, and local farmland was flooded.
It used to be the main road between Petrie and Dayboro, and crossed Rush Creek at Whiteside / Quinns Crossing. That crossing disappeared under the man-made lake 40 years ago, and the road hasn’t been used since.
It’s funny how you can still make out the double white line down the middle, under all the grass which is slowly reclaiming the land.
One of the other unusual roads in the area is Raen Road…
I followed a dirt road over a cattle grid. It eventually turned into a vehicle track, and before I knew it I was in front of an old farm house.
Will, the farmer, was really friendly and explained that the road reserve ran through his property and disappeared in the grass after a few hundred meters. He very kindly let me ride around and take some photos. I really liked these old Hoop (A.Cunninghamii) and Bunya (A. Bidwilli) pines along the banks of the upper reaches Rush Creek.
The final road I explored was Strongs Road. The sign says it’s a “No Through Road” but it actually turns into a muddy vehicle track, and eventually comes out on Mount Samson Road – a much nicer ride than battling 100km/h traffic on Dayboro Road!
Wild bees have built a hive in the trunk of an old Eucalypt along Strong Road at Dayboro.
All up, 55km, 2,500kcal (= 6 Big Macs), and 800m of ascent.
A fantastic way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
Total distance: 55.94 km Total climbing: 854 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 03:59:43
Our kids had a visit from a couple of their friends this morning.
Rather than let them sit around playing computer games, we bundled them into the van and took them on a couple of hikes. (After checking that it was ok to kidnap a couple of extra kids. Thanks Renea!)
The first hike was around Camp Mountain – a beautiful forest to the south of Samford. I’ve done this on the mountain bike before, and really wanted to show everyone how picturesque it is.
It’s a big road for a small person. Lilly kept going all day. (Picture by Liz)
It’s a good climb to the Summit of Camp Mountain, with great views of the city.
Some of the wildlife at the top (Picture by Liz)
The second hike was up the Goat Track – a washed out dirt road west of Samford. I love this road because of the views and the fascinating Rock Art that has sprung up along the way.
I’ve been observing the rock structures over the last couple of months and they’re getting quite realistic!
The view from The Goat Track looking east past the Water Tower at Albany Creek, with Moreton Bay in the background.
All up we hiked 8.8km with a total ascent of 520m. I was really impressed with how well the kids coped with it – no complaints and everyone kept up a great pace (average of about 4.5km/h).
Well done team!
Total distance: 5.99 km Total climbing: 397 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 01:42:20
It seems like wherever I ride my mountain bike these days, this wonderful rock art seems to be springing up.
One day I’ll ride by and see a simple pile of four or five stones. In a few days, there’ll be a few more – as though it’s a sapling or a strange rocky mushroom. After a week or two it starts to get more complex, until eventually you get something fascinating like this which looks like the fairies have been up to mischief in the forest.
This phenomenon is wonderful on so many levels:
Unlike the Mona Lisa, this sort of art is vulnerable. If someone was malicious enough they could knock all the rocks down with impunity. But they don’t. I think this is because most people who go out in the forest on foot or on a bike are happy people. The happiest people on earth are those who get regular exercise doing something they enjoy. I doubt you’d get many spiteful souls walking in the forest. I doubt this sort of creation would last a day in a big city.
Even though it’s vulnerable, it’s beautiful. Not in a “Mona Lisa” way – but on a simpler level. Someone just grabbed a few stones lying around and stacked them. It probably took less than a minute. But the end result quietly says “I was here”. When someone adds to it, the stones say “I was here too”. After a few weeks, the mystical conglomerate seems to be chattering away saying “Hey – we were here too! Me too! And me! Woo – hoo isn’t this fun!”.
And eventually you have something created by dozens of people that has taken on an happy energy of its own.
As an experiment, why don’t you take a walk in a forest somewhere, stack up a few stones, and see what they grow into?
The afternoon was too pleasant to spend in the office, so I took a walk along the northern shoreline of Lake Samsonvale.
This area was known as “Harrison’s Pocket” before the dam was built. But now the town of Harrison’s Pocket, with its post office and school only exists on old maps.
The landscape has changed completely.
The lake is now an important habitat for many different species of water-birds.
The western part of the lakes covers what used to be known as the town of Samsonvale named after Mount Samson which towers over it to the west.
None of the old town remains except the cemetery on the shore of the lake.
The land to the north of the lake has some beautiful quiet trails.
Total distance: 6.72 km Total climbing: 298 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 01:22:21
The Goat Track is a narrow one-way gravel road which winds up from Samford Valley to Mount Nebo. Until recently it saved motorists over 10km on the trip.
But heavy rain a few months ago caused landslides which made the road impassable for everything except foot traffic and mountain bikes.
The natural disaster has inspired the locals to develop some exciting new art forms.
At first one or two simple stone sculptures sprang up by the roadside near the damaged areas. As other walkers passed by, they added to the artwork, building more and more complex sculptures until in one area, the whole roadside has turned into one large gallery of public artwork seeking to propitiate the gods of the mountain to ensure the safety of this thoroughfare.
This whole thing has been spontaneous. The people who contributed to it probably never met the earlier contributors, but it has evolved into a public collaborative work of art. There are rumours that the local council may not ever have the funds to repair the damage. And so weeds and grass continue their slow march reclaiming the road while people slowly turn what was a serious traffic route into a public art gallery with-a-view for fun-loving hikers.
Total distance: 8.27 km Total climbing: 375 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 02:06:48
Liz and I enjoyed a hike along Joyners Ridge Road. Starting at the Maiala car park, we walked 7.6km down through the rainforest to England Creek, and then back up again. A total trip of 15.2km with almost 700m of vertical ascent. Lachlan and I walked this road as part of our hike last week, but today it seemed much easier.
This walk gave some great examples of the different environments that exist at various altitudes down the mountain. We started off in thick rainforest filled with piccabeen palms, figs, and ferns.
After about 2km, the vegetation underwent a stunningly quick change into wet Sclerophyll forests with tall Eucalyptus.
The air was filled with the calls of bellbirds and whipbirds sounding like laser sound effects from a Star Wars movie.
Another few kilometres down the track and the vegetation opened up, the ground was much drier, and we didn’t have to worry about the ubiquitous leeches that inhabit the wetter parts of the forest.
The Red Trianlge Slug (Triboniophorus graeffei) is the largest land slug in Australia. Liz almost stepped on this magnificent specimen. As we approached, it shrunk in size defensively. But even so, it was still the size of a human hand.
A previous visitor appears to have cut an archway through a lantana thicket. To my warped mind it looked like a little hut.
I really enjoyed being able to share this beautiful walk with Liz. All up it took us just around 3 hours plus 45 minutes in breaks. Let’s do it again soon!
Total distance: 16.79 km Total climbing: 762 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 03:48:22
It was the annual sports carnival at the kids’ school today. In keeping with the whole fitness concept I thought I’d leave the car at home and walk up to the school and back. School was a-buzz with excited kids in team colours chanting war-cries and cheering for their team.
I sat off to one side trying to sneak shots of the kids, but Harrison wasn’t fooled – he knew I had my eye on him.
Lilly scribbled in the front of one of her note pads this morning “I’m gonna win”. With an attitude like that, and her blue war paint, no one else had a chance.
Oh – this was a chook I saw as I was walking home. When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and when you’re carrying a camera, everything seems to be asking to have its photo taken – including chickens. As soon as I stopped to look at one of them, about a dozen came running out of the coop to look at me.
It was a fun walk. The funniest thing was I actually burned up over 1,000 calories doing it. Time (and energy) fly when you’re having fun 🙂
Total distance: 6.89 km Total climbing: 251 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 01:38:28
